High school football preview: New teams bring history of success

In with the new ...
The Morning Journal has added four new teams to our coverage area starting with the 2014 school year: Black River, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls and Rocky River.
Each team has a unique history of success when it comes to football. At this point, they are in varying stages of ability, but they all promise to be exciting over the next ten weeks.
Those familiar with the Patriot Athletic Conference need no reminder who Black River is. They are the team that has cemented itself near the top of the conference since its inception in 2005, claiming three Stars Division titles since 2010.
That success has translated to the playoffs. The Pirates have made the OHSAA playoffs nine times in school history, including four berths since 2000 with the most recent coming in 2013. They boast a modest 6-9 records in postseason play.
Al Young has been at the helm of Black River for the past 25 years, leading the Pirates to all but one of their state tournament appearances.
“We’re going to give great effort,” Young said of his team. “Our kids give great effort. They like playing football. We don’t have to get these kids highly motivated to play. They’re a rough group of kids. They like the game of football, they always have, and we feel we’ve always put a pretty good product out there. You can expect these kids to always be ready to play every Friday.”
Moving from a playoff team last season in Black River, you have a team that went 7-3 and barely missed postseason play in North Olmsted.
The Eagles, in spite of being the team of a well-known town in the Western Cuyahoga County area, have not experienced the success that you may expect.
The school only has one OHSAA playoff appearance that came back in 2005 in which it made a quick exit in the Regional quarterfinal to Brush. However, that does not mean that the school has not churned out excellent teams.
Over the last ten years, North Olmsted has gone 60-41, churning out six winning seasons, a 5-5 season and three 4-6 years.
Second year coach Tim Brediger believes that it is only a matter of time before the Eagles become a constant in postseason play.
“We have all the right pieces, both on and off the field,” Brediger said. “We have a very great fan base for home games. There’s a lot of excitement in our community for those five Friday nights. And the kids love it. The fan base gives them something to feed off of.
“We have a great middle school program that is going to keep us in contention for a long time. Those kids just live and die North Olmsted football. They come to our games and get the high school kids hyped. It’s just a really cool atmosphere here on Friday nights.”
Cross-town rival Olmsted Falls is another team on the rise that has had a rough time the last few years.
In the past two years, Olmsted Falls has played 3-17 ball. However, that in no way indicates its rich football history of success.
The Bulldogs have made 11 postseason appearances, winning the entire thing in 2000 and returning to the semifinals in 2002. In fact, the turn of the millennium has been great for Olmsted Falls, as it has made eight state tournament appearances.
Second-year coach Tom DeLuca has been charged with returning the Bulldogs to their former glory, something that he believes he can do.
“I can’t read the future and I know that our schedule is very tough, but I know that we have some solid players here,” he said. “I know that Week 1 these kids will be ready. I’m looking for some great things out of them.”
Finally, we come to Rocky River. Possibly the most well-known school new to our coverage area, the Pirates hold one of the more intriguing histories.
The Pirates have 23 championships to its name across four different conferences. However, its in-season successes have only recently begun translating to postseason berths as the Pirates.
Rocky River has made the state tournament three times in school history. Those three times came in 2006, 2007 and 2009, with 2007 being the only year it advanced past the first round.
Since it’s 2009 season, Rocky River has bounced back and forth with success and failure, posting a 20-20 record with two winning seasons and two winning seasons.
However, a highly potent offense has seventh-year coach Rick Adams seeing success in the Pirates’ future.
“Expect an exciting offense,” Adams said. “Last year we were scoring around 40 points a game. This year our defense is going to be much better. We have a lot more experience than last year. We’re going to use the entire football field this year. Anyone who comes to a game can expect a lot of excitement.”

About the Author

Jon is a 2011 graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. While at Calvin, Jon worked for the college newspaper, Chimes, where he was the sports editor and co-managing editor. Jon began writing for The Morning Journal in March of 2013 as a crime reporter before moving to the sports department in December of 2013. Reach the author at jbehm@morningjournal.com
or follow Jon on Twitter: @MJ_JBehm.